# Best Movie Scenes With No Dialogue (or almost no dialogue) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 29, 2012, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-scenes-with-no-dialogue-or-almost-no-dialogue/620298 "2012-04-29T04:02:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2012, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-scenes-with-no-dialogue-or-almost-no-dialogue/620298/21 "2012-04-29T08:16:56Z")
The scene in **Boogie Nights** where Dirk and pals are getting ready to rip off (and accidentally kill) a drug dealer. Dirk smiles through the drug-addled haze slowly as the enormity of the line he is about to cross weighs down on him. I think “Sister Christian” might be playing in the background. It isn’t long. Same film: Burt Reynolds turns off the sound to the Colonel’s phone and walks away, as the Colonel desperately tries to get him to come back. There is dialogue, but none of us can hear it. ---
**Author:** ![Rich\_Mann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ce73a5/32.png) [@Rich\_Mann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rich_Mann)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2012, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-scenes-with-no-dialogue-or-almost-no-dialogue/620298/22 "2012-04-29T08:19:43Z")
I would have to watch it again, but _ **Children Of Men** _ has a few good ones if I remember right. ---
**Author:** ![GreedySmurf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a698b9/32.png) [@GreedySmurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreedySmurf)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2012, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-scenes-with-no-dialogue-or-almost-no-dialogue/620298/23 "2012-04-29T08:20:54Z")
Before Lucas messed with it, and it’s not an entire scene, but in Return of the Jedi, where Luke is all but helpless under the Emperor’s force lightning assault and Vader is just standing there looking between Luke and the Emperor. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2012, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-scenes-with-no-dialogue-or-almost-no-dialogue/620298/24 "2012-04-29T09:49:07Z")
Quite a lot of Wall-E ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2012, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-scenes-with-no-dialogue-or-almost-no-dialogue/620298/25 "2012-04-29T11:32:33Z")
> [@GreedySmurf](#): > > Before Lucas messed with it, and it’s not an entire scene, but in Return of the Jedi, where Luke is all but helpless under the Emperor’s force lightning assault and Vader is just standing there looking between Luke and the Emperor. Indeed. On a related note this simple scene from SW has all heart ans emotion that all the CGI in the world can’t match. Binary Sunset [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/9hcuLVOF__I/hqdefault.jpg?sqp=-oaymwEmCOADEOgC8quKqQMa8AEB-AHUBoAC4AOKAgwIABABGH8gISgkMA8=&rs=AOn4CLDssMCM0bK400cLmyU2mJOGho86qQ "Star Wars Binary Sunset") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hcuLVOF__I) ---
**Author:** ![shantih](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f6c823/32.png) [@shantih](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shantih)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2012, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-scenes-with-no-dialogue-or-almost-no-dialogue/620298/26 "2012-04-29T12:42:30Z")
The first 8 minutes of Up have almost no dialogue, but tell the entire story of a life from childhood to old age, with love, marriage, heartbreaking sadness and simple, lovely pleasures. I was moved to tears at least twice. [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/9yjAFMNkCDo/hqdefault.jpg?sqp=-oaymwEmCOADEOgC8quKqQMa8AEB-AH-BIAC4AOKAgwIABABGH8gPSg7MA8=&rs=AOn4CLBs-8mmAGPQSi4CoYiA62aOsjJGvg "Disney Pixar's Up -Married Life - Carl & Ellie (HQ)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yjAFMNkCDo) ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2012, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-scenes-with-no-dialogue-or-almost-no-dialogue/620298/27 "2012-04-29T12:44:35Z")
The attempted hit from [_Miller’s Crossing_](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAnD9P4ummA). ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2012, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-scenes-with-no-dialogue-or-almost-no-dialogue/620298/28 "2012-04-29T12:47:03Z")
The whole film _Jeremiah Johnson_ has very little dialogue and tells the story well without it. Also, one of the greatest (IMHO) films of all time, _Lawrence of Arabia_, has long stretches with no dialogue. ---
**Author:** ![mack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mack)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2012, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-scenes-with-no-dialogue-or-almost-no-dialogue/620298/29 "2012-04-29T13:04:56Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > The baptism scene in The Godfather, which isn’t technically a silent scene (there’s a baptism going on). > > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sokkp7NA8NA&feature=related](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sokkp7NA8NA&feature=related) Another Godfather dialogue-less (except for the screaming) scene I like is the horsehead in the bed scene and then it cuts back to Don Corleone’s sitting room and Marlon Brando arches his eyebrows perfectly. [QUOTE=Spoke] Conversely, I really love it when a filmmaker is able to tell a story, or part of a story, using no words at all (or at least very few words). [/QUOTE] At one time I watched a bunch of silent movies and initially I thought I was going to be reading placard after placard but in reality there weren’t that many. It was astonishing how little the story relied on them and how much was conveyed by the acting. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2012, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-scenes-with-no-dialogue-or-almost-no-dialogue/620298/30 "2012-04-29T13:43:49Z")
The first three minutes of Touch of Evil is one long shot and dialogue free, and it’s still remembered as a classic piece of cinema: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/Yg8MqjoFvy4/hqdefault.jpg "Touch of Evil Opening Shot") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yg8MqjoFvy4) ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2012, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-scenes-with-no-dialogue-or-almost-no-dialogue/620298/31 "2012-04-29T13:54:11Z")
The mirror scene in _Duck Soup_ with Groucho and Harpo Marx. It’s hilarious. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2012, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-scenes-with-no-dialogue-or-almost-no-dialogue/620298/32 "2012-04-29T13:56:20Z")
The scene in _The Piano_ when Helen Hunt and Anna Paquin are on the beach, and Hunt opens the piano crate just enough to play (the them song) and Paquin dances on the beach. It’s obvious that the piano is their only outlet and their best way of communicating, and it’s as if they are really just one person. I was also going to mention the scene _The Black Stallion_, but was beaten to it. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2012, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-scenes-with-no-dialogue-or-almost-no-dialogue/620298/33 "2012-04-29T14:02:06Z")
Toward the end of the climactic fight scene in _Way of the Dragon_ (U.S. title _Return of the Dragon_), there is a brief moment when Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris pause and just exchange glances. Neither actor says a word, but you can tell what both characters are thinking. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2012, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-scenes-with-no-dialogue-or-almost-no-dialogue/620298/34 "2012-04-29T14:26:08Z")
Just for trivia’s sake, mention should be made of [The Thief (1952)](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0045230/) where > [@](#): > > Interesting, but sometimes slow film about a nuclear physicist working in Washington DC who also spies for some unnamed foreign country. It does have a rather funny, patriotic/propagandist ending. It’s most interesting aspect is that it is filmed entirely without dialogue. When I saw this film back in the 50’s or early 60’s, I kept waiting for the first words to be spoken – in vain. Plenty of sound effects, including a ringing phone that you knew just had to be answered but which quit ringing just before it was picked up. Unless you’re into gimmicks like “no dialog” you could safely skip this one! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2012, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-scenes-with-no-dialogue-or-almost-no-dialogue/620298/35 "2012-04-29T14:37:52Z")
In [Mario Bava’s Black Sunday](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Sunday_%281960_film%29) there is a scene with a coach pulled by black horses goes thundering past, and it is done pretty much soundlessly so it comes off as extremely haunting. [Here](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kd5D04kizts) at about 7 minutes. It is very short, a minute or so only, but very strong. The one scene that actually stuck with me from watching it as a young kid back in about 1968 or so was the scene used in a compilation show 100 Scariest Moments or some such title as that - which is about the [first whole set of scenes](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTC2vRfyVJY) where they are executing her. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2012, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-scenes-with-no-dialogue-or-almost-no-dialogue/620298/36 "2012-04-29T14:47:21Z")
This [diving scene from The Deep](http://youtu.be/cS-wRQHj4gU) is good. (This is the Spanish-dubbed version of the movie, but for the wordless scene, I guess it doesn’t matter.) ---
**Author:** ![Prelude\_to\_Fascination](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Prelude\_to\_Fascination](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prelude_to_Fascination)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2012, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-scenes-with-no-dialogue-or-almost-no-dialogue/620298/37 "2012-04-29T14:52:09Z")
I don’t think anyone’s mentioned _2001_. Pick a scene, almost any scene (although my first thought was the EVA to replace the AE35 unit, but the first 20+minutes have no dialogue, as well as much of the entire second half…). ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2012, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-scenes-with-no-dialogue-or-almost-no-dialogue/620298/38 "2012-04-29T15:28:14Z")
> [@Krokodil](#): > > The scene in **Boogie Nights** where Dirk and pals are getting ready to rip off (and accidentally kill) a drug dealer. Dirk smiles through the drug-addled haze slowly as the enormity of the line he is about to cross weighs down on him. I think “Sister Christian” might be playing in the background. It isn’t long. > > Same film: Burt Reynolds turns off the sound to the Colonel’s phone and walks away, as the Colonel desperately tries to get him to come back. There is dialogue, but none of us can hear it. Yeah, if this was a contest, you won. Goodfellas, which inspired Boogie Nights, has a few too. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2012, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-scenes-with-no-dialogue-or-almost-no-dialogue/620298/39 "2012-04-29T16:21:46Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > The scene in _The Piano_ when **Helen Hunt** and Anna Paquin are on the beach, and **Hunt** opens the piano crate just enough to play (the them song) and Paquin dances on the beach. It’s obvious that the piano is their only outlet and their best way of communicating, and it’s as if they are really just one person. Holly Hunter ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2012, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-scenes-with-no-dialogue-or-almost-no-dialogue/620298/40 "2012-04-29T16:42:19Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > The baptism scene in The Godfather, which isn’t technically a silent scene (there’s a baptism going on). > > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sokkp7NA8NA&feature=related](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sokkp7NA8NA&feature=related) > [@mack](#): > > Another Godfather dialogue-less (except for the screaming) scene I like is the horsehead in the bed scene and then it cuts back to Don Corleone’s sitting room and Marlon Brando arches his eyebrows perfectly. In fact, the best dialog-free scene from the Godfather films is the [assassination of Don Tessio](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTCDTksSiOE), from Part 2. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-scenes-with-no-dialogue-or-almost-no-dialogue/620298.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-scenes-with-no-dialogue-or-almost-no-dialogue/620298.md?page=3)